FROM THIS EPISODE

Inglewood and Los Angeles are "inviting the public" to view the Shuttle Endeavor as it proceeds from LAX to the Science Center in downtown LA. But they're making it as difficult as possible. Streets and sidewalks will be closed for a mile ahead and behind, and two official viewing areas will be restricted to a combined total of fewer than 20,000 people. Then there are all those trees that have been cut down and the electrical outages. Officials, merchants and residents along the route aren't the only ones disappointed and angry. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, affirmative action in college admissions and the US Supreme Court.

As the Space Shuttle Endeavour is moved from LAX through to the Science Center downtown, what LA Mayor Villaraigosa once touted as "the mother of all parades," has been scaled back to a virtual embryo. The LAPD now says the streets would be empty if officials had their way. Instead, they’ll be full of police officers, and even the sidewalks will be closed to pedestrians for most of the way.

In the Grutter case almost 10 years ago, a divided US Supreme Court rejected racial quotas in college admissions. But it said race could be one factor in the effort to diversify student bodies and make up for the history of racial discrimination. It was a divided decision, and the court said it would take up the issue again. Today, in the case of Abigail Fisher, a white student rejected by the University of Texas, it made good on its promise. We hear what the Court heard about race-based and race-neutral strategies.